Romney’s Defeat in 2008

In a recently published book, A Different God? Mitt Romney, the Religious Right and the Mormon Question, Mormon historian Craig Foster made the argument that Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign was defeated by anti-Mormon prejudice across the nation.

Foster concluded of the campaign: “Romney’s campaign was burdened by a piece of baggage that he would not and could not throw off and which he could not explain in a way the electorate could understand: his Mormonism.”

While Foster himself conceded that religion was not Governor Romney’s only obstacle, citing the coverage of his changing position on abortion and his wealth as problems, he said that Romney’s faith was ultimately his Achilles heel.

Unfortunately, Foster is far from the only one who has made this knee-jerk claim. This is sad because a quick look at the facts of the race demonstrate that this claim is far from accurate and is, in fact, dead wrong. Though there may be some Mormon bigotry in this country, it was not the reason for Governor Romney’s failure to secure the Republican nomination for President, as the evidence proves. In fact, during the course of Romney’s candidacy, the percentage of American voters willing to support a Mormon candidate increased significantly. For example, the Gallup poll taken between February and December of 2007 found that the percentage of Americans willing to vote for a Mormon candidate for President rose from 72 percent to 80 percent while the percentage of Americans not willing to vote for a Mormon candidate for President decreased from 24 to 17 percent.

To put that rising support in perspective, over the same period of time, the percentage of Americans willing to vote for a black candidate fell from 94 to 93 percent, a Catholic candidate fell from 95 to 93 percent and a woman candidate from 88 to 86 percent.

Over the same period of time, Romney’s support for the GOP nomination rose from 8 percent in a crowded field February 2007 to 15 percent in a more crowded field in December 2008. Romney managed to translate that increased support into 11 primary and caucus victories out of a total of 31 competitions before suspending his campaign on February 7, 2008. Governor Romney received 4.2 million votes and 291 delegates while winning in Wyoming, Michigan, Nevada, Maine, Alaska, Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, and Utah. In addition, Governor Romney won a plurality on the first ballot of the West Virginia caucus before McCain and Huckabee supporters teamed up to give Huckabee the victory.

Because of his impressive rise in the polls and victories across the country, when Romney stood at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February 2008 and said that “I entered this race because I love America, and because I love America, I feel I must now stand aside, for our party and for our country,” he did so in second place in the Republican delegate count. He was well ahead of previously better known and favored candidates, like Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson.

Romney’s success would not have been possible had there been the widespread anti-Mormon bigotry as alleged by Craig Foster and a host of others. In fact, Governor Romney won the support and endorsements of prominent evangelicals like Bob Jones III, Chancellor and former President of Bob Jones University; Robert R. Taylor, dean of Bob Jones University college of arts and sciences; Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, Founder and President of the Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny; Paul Weyrich, founder of the Heritage Foundation; Dr. John Willkie, former president of the National Right to Life Committee; and Dr. Robert Wolgemuth, former Chairman of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association.

Romney also won the endorsements of prominent social conservative leaders like Robert Bork, former Solicitor General and Supreme Court nominee; James Bopp, Jr., a pro-life attorney; Marlene Elwell, Founder and President of Catholics in the Public Square; Jay Sekulow, chief council for the American Center for Law and Justice; and talk radio hosts Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Mark Levin, and Lars Larson.

If there were a vast evangelical conspiracy against the candidacy of Governor Romney, it was secret and they forgot to inform significant portions of the evangelical and social conservative leadership. For example, evangelicals would have needed quite a decoder ring to get a negative view of Romney when Tony Perkins called him “solidly conservative,” or when James Dobson said that Romney “has got the right answers to many, many things,” or when Jerry Falwell said, “I do not believe church affiliation will hinder his being a viable candidate among evangelicals.”

In fact, the only prominent religious public official to showcase blatant anti-Mormon bigotry in the race was the former Democratic Presidential hopeful, the “Reverend” Al Sharpton. During a debate on religion and politics at the New York Public Library in May 2007, “Reverend” Sharpton said “As for the one Mormon running for office, those that really believe in God will defeat him anyway, so don’t worry about that. That’s a temporary situation.” Governor Romney responded by saying that “It shows that bigotry still exists in some corners. I thought it was a most unfortunate comment to make.”

“Reverend” Sharpton notwithstanding, rather than intolerance for his faith being the reason for his failure to secure the nomination, Governor Romney simply fell short of winning a number of crucial states to Senator John McCain, whose maverick stance and heroic service for decades in both the military and public service resonated better with moderate Republicans and independents in open primaries. In addition, the Republican Party has tended to nominate candidates who had previously sought the party’s nomination but come up short—think Barry Goldwater in 1960, Ronald Reagan in 1976, George H.W. Bush in 1980, Bob Dole in 1988, and now John McCain in 2000.

While Governor Romney may have to wait until 2012 to add his name to that distinguished list, his campaign and his courageous “Faith in America” speech did not go unrecognized. After his exit from the primary race, Governor Romney and his wife Ann were awarded The Canterbury Medal by the Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty, an award given annually to the public figure who “resolutely and publicly refused to render unto Caesar that which is God’s.” In addition, Romney served as the Keynote speaker at the Value Voters Summitt, led by the evangelical leader Tony Perkins’s Family Research Council.

During Romney’s “Faith in America” speech he told a story from the Constitutional Convention. Romney said:

“Recall the early days of the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia, during the fall of 1774. With Boston occupied by British troops, there were rumors of imminent hostilities and fears of an impending war. In this time of peril, someone suggested that they pray. But there were objections.

“They were too divided in religious sentiments, what with Episcopalians and Quakers, Anabaptists and Congregationalists, Presbyterians and Catholics. Then Sam Adams rose, and said he would hear a prayer from anyone of piety and good character, as long as they were a patriot.”

Mitt Romney ran a patriotic campaign, secure in his faith and a love for his country. It would be a shame to question the patriotism and tolerance of those who chose to support another candidate in 2008. If history is any indication, those same voters may lift a Mormon to the White House in 2012.